Chapter 11– "Halcyon Days of a Damaged Childhood"
New York City, New York, USA
Year 2015
Elijah Miles- Age 10
Elijah hated Richmond, his new psychiatrist.
Abstergo's presence in Elijah's life complicated things somehow.
Elijah knew what Abstergo was from his past memories as one of Aita's Sages.
"Guide me into the Grey, beloved! I am your Instrument!" said another Sage, a man named John Standish as he turned around with a gun in his hand, only to be shot to death by the authorities.
The discovery of John Standish led to the discovery of Sages and the triple-helix DNA of the Isu, which in turn led to Abstergo's development of the Phoenix Project… a means to try and make humans like the Isu.
Or rather, humans that worked for Abstergo or their rich clients.
Elijah suspected that the Phoenix Project was what it was really about.
He had to tread carefully.
For now, he'd pretend to withhold information from Richmond due to his trauma… or his antisocial tendencies if need be.
Richmond said to Elijah, "So when did you first see Aita manifest, Elijah?"
"At a birthday party I went to," said Elijah, looking at the floor. "It happened when I was forced under the surface of a pool."
"I see…" said Richmond as he looked down as well to type something into his tablet with a stylus for a moment. "Your mother told me a little about what happened at the party, but I want to hear what happened from your perspective."
Elijah said, "It was the birthday party of someone whom I thought was a friend at the time. They tricked me, made fun of me in front of everyone. Then someone pushed me in the pool. When I got out… Aita told me to hurt them all."
"And that's what you did?"
Leaving June out of this, he said, "Yes… Am I insane? Or is Aita really trying to control me?"
Richmond said to Elijah, "I'm going to say some things that most modern psychologists wouldn't dare consider, Elijah. Often times, 'insanity', among other psychological 'disorders', is a matter of societal perspectives rather than actual scientific ones. It wasn't that long ago in our history when violence and the killing of other humans was required for what we perceived to be the survival of our species… I'm talking about the two world wars, of course."
Elijah looked at Richmond as he said, "Today, billionaires can press a few keys on their computers and decide the fates of millions of human beings, but this is seen as completely sane. Whereas so much as speaking out against such an inhumane practice is seen as insane."
"You're talking about capitalism?" said Elijah.
"I am," said Richmond with a smile. "If the world is burning down around you, and everyone else is doing nothing to put out the flames, does that make you insane for trying to?"
Elijah said nothing for a moment.
"It's not a trick question."
"...no," said Elijah. "But, what does this have to do with Aita? And also, isn't Abstergo a big corporation that does some of the things you said when you mentioned capitalism?"
Richmond leaned in toward Elijah, his smile growing. "Aita's real, Elijah… and so are a lot of your instincts toward believing he is. You don't have DID… Abstergo's been researching something called 'Sages', Elijah… and I believe you're one of them."
Damn it, thought Elijah.
"If it's all right with you and your mother, I want to take you and your mother to a clinic run by Abstergo here in New York. There we'll do a blood sample."
"A blood sample?"
"You're not afraid of needles, are you?"
"No, I- I just…" said Elijah. "Why?" At this point he was just trying to save face.
"It has to do with what a Sage is, Elijah," said Richmond. "We believe your bloodline is special, that you have something called triple-helix DNA. If we do the blood test, we can confirm whether or not you're a Sage."
"All right…" said Elijah. "It's just… This all sounds eerily similar to stuff that Aita's saying… He's told me to hurt people, and at the birthday party, I gave in and listened to him."
"It sounded like you wanted to at the time," said Richmond, getting up from his chair. "But now you don't. You're a better person than you think you are, Elijah… and even if you do decide to resort to violence… We'll do what we can to help you. You and your mother. I know school has been stressful for you."
As they walked to the door of the brightly lit room together, Richmond said, "Despite that it may seem like things won't get better, Elijah… they will. You're doing a lot better job surviving than most Sages, let alone ordinary humans, are.
"Keep it up. I'll see you again soon," said Richmond as he opened the door for Elijah.
On the subway ride home, Tori said to Elijah while he was eating a piece of pepperoni pizza, "I like this new psychiatrist, Elijah."
"I don't," said Elijah.
"Is it because of his fancier office?"
Elijah said nothing.
She said to Elijah, "Well I booked the recommended appointment to Abstergo's clinic. It didn't cost anything."
Elijah looked at his mother.
"When's the appointment at?"
"October 22nd."
"That's a week from now!" said Elijah.
"Why? Is that bad?" said Tori.
"It's just…" said Elijah. "It conflicts with a meeting I'm going to with my friends for the extracurricular club we're a part of after school."
"Oh…" said Tori. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were part of an extracurricular club. May I ask what club it is?"
"...the Comp-Sci Tetrad," Elijah said.
"Interesting," said Tori.
"I know you'd want me to be in something like drama club or a sports team–"
Tori laughed. "I'm just glad you've got friends with common interests. When I saw the bruises on your face when you got back from school, I… I…"
Elijah frowned.
"I assumed you really meant you had gotten into a fight," she said, looking away.
The image of his mother sobbing on her knees as he told her about the state of the high school system she enrolled him in was fresh in his mind.
"Things will get better, Elijah…" she said while crying, "You're so intelligent… You just need to make it through high school… and you'll have a better life after that. And as much as I can't stomach how the world abuses people like us… fighting will get you expelled…"
Moving the conversation back to the intended topic, Elijah said, "Can you reschedule the appointment?"
"Of course, sweetheart," said Tori.
"Thank you, mother," said Elijah as he hugged her.
That night, Elijah's mind wandered while he was in bed.
Aita hasn't bothered me in a while… he thought to himself. I know he'll never truly go away, but have I really gotten that good at shutting him out?
Then, staring at his phone for a moment, he thought, or is he scheming something? All inside my head?
October 22nd, 2015
Elijah was in class with his fellow students, including June, Tim, Mina, Logan, and Hayden, when the teacher arrived and announced that there would be an upcoming national science project competition that was made part of the curriculum.
"When's the due date?" said Tim.
"Near the end of the school year," said the teacher.
"What?" snickered Logan. "It's not even 2016 yet and they're announcing homework for the end of the school year?"
"I hope for your sake that you're genuinely asking the question," said the teacher who was frowning at Logan.
"Like the threat of getting expelled… the question's not genuine, it's rhetorical," said Logan.
Rolling her eyes, she pointed at Logan with a ruler, then pointed toward the door, "You. Out."
Logan headed out of the room while grinning at Hayden and giving him an 'I'm ok' hand signal by pointing to himself and making an O with his pointer finger and thumb, then mouthed to him, 'she's hot', Hayden sat back in his seat and covered his face to hide that he was snickering.
The class snickered a little too after seeing what Logan mouthed.
Once Logan left, Hayden said to the teacher, "Aren't you being a little too, you know… hard on him, Miss Jaeger?"
"He's been misbehaving all semester, Hayden!" yelled the teacher. "Just like you!"
The classmates whispered to each other as Hayden looked around the room with his typical sadistic smile.
"I'm hurt, Miss Jaeger," said Hayden. "I've just been sitting here the whole time. That is, until I figured I should stand up for my friend."
"You think I haven't heard of your so-called 'gang' you've been using to beat up and intimidate the other students?" said Miss Jaeger. "I'm working on gathering evidence with the help of the parents of other students. They're becoming concerned."
Sighing with a smile, Hayden said, "If you wanted me to go to detention, you could've just said so. Shame though… I wanted to hear more about the science project. Despite being a delinquent, I don't hate my studies."
Miss Jaeger said, "This way to detention, Hayden."
As Hayden got up, "Oh, and also in terms of gathering evidence… you could tell Elijah's mom this…"
Elijah looked up as he plopped a sandwich in a plastic bag in Elijah's lap.
"Sorry I stole your lunch, Elijah. I was hungry earlier than expected, probably due to working out, so I gobbled down that turkey and cheese sandwich your mom packed you. Figured I'd give you mine as an apology."
Hayden said to Elijah with a sadistic smile, "It's peanut butter and jelly. Hope you're okay with that."
Sensing a trick coming, Elijah opened the zipper to the plastic bag, and then instantly closed it shut, covering his nose.
"See you at lunch," said Hayden as he waved while walking past Elijah's seat.
Elijah rose to his feet.
"I've lived a large portion of my childhood on the streets," said Elijah as he lightly chucked the sandwich at the back of Hayden's head. "You think I'm not capable of going hungry?"
Hayden looked at Elijah and grimaced.
"It was fine when you tried to mess up Logan, and pretended to fail at it," said Hayden. "But if you really want to try and mess up me… you'd better try harder than that."
"I don't need to try," said Elijah. "And I don't need to try now."
Elijah walked to Hayden and stood face-to-face with him.
"You told me that when I had reached my limit to come and find you. That you were good at reading people, annoying them. But you're not. Just like that sandwich, you and your gang are full of shit."
The class whispered to themselves.
"Again, I grew up on the streets, and live in the ghettos because my mom can afford rent there. Did you seriously think childish antics like drawing a picture of my mom sucking dick on my notes when I'm not looking, hawking spitballs at the back of my head, or some cliched ass verbal or physical attacks were going to get to me?"
Hayden looked at Elijah furiously.
"It's going to take a lot more than that, Hayden. When I've reached my limit, I promise I will come and find you. But my limit is going to be pretty damn hard to find, so until then, work on finding a better way to piss me off. And don't bother my friends."
"You don't care about them then?" said Hayden.
"I'm a psychopath," said Elijah with a shrug. "I don't care about anyone."
Hayden looked around the room, and gritted his teeth.
"All right, Elijah," said Hayden with a sneer. "You'd better keep that promise."
"ENOUGH!" yelled Miss Jaeger furiously. "Both of you, detention, now!"
Elijah sighed.
Guess I'm missing CompSci club too, he thought.
Although that was really just an excuse to keep him from seeing that damned doctor, Richmond.
On the way out, he heard his classmates whispering to each other.
"That was the coolest thing I've seen happen all day…"
"Did Elijah just take down Hayden… with words?"
"Now they're going to be in detention together though…"
"Awkward…"
"Is it true that Hayden's Acers are starting to do deals with real gangs though?"
"That's what I've heard… They scare me. I wouldn't ever be able to stand up to them like he did… It's bad enough that Hayden's the toughest delinquent in the school district…"
Hayden and Logan left the detention room early despite that they weren't supposed to.
To Elijah's surprise, June, Tim, and Mina arrived there; Tim came with his laptop computer.
"What are you guys doing here?" said Elijah.
"We wanted to check on you," said June.
"So you got yourselves in trouble?"
Clearing his throat, Tim said to Elijah, "It's not as bad as it sounds. The rules in this school are slowly going out the door due to lack of adequate staffing."
"I suppose you're right," said Elijah. "Still, it would've been bad if Hayden and Logan were still here when you arrived."
"Not to mention Frances," said Mina. "I still have beef with that skank for pouring water on me over the girls' bathroom stall… I just need to catch her alone."
Tim and Elijah looked at each other.
"Um… Elijah?" said Tim.
"Yeah Tim?" said Elijah.
"Is it true about what you said?" said Tim. "That you don't care about us?"
Elijah sighed, and put a hand to his head. "It was a bluff. I'm… still getting used to high school."
Elijah noticed June smile slightly at this.
Tim looked relieved.
Looking at Elijah and then June, Mina smirked and said, "Soooo are we going to get down to business?"
Trying and failing to follow what Mina was implying with her head-turning, Tim said, "What?"
Mina snickered and then gestured with her head towards his laptop.
Tim said, "Oh, right… the science project."
Opening his laptop and typing into it, he said, "I have ideas as to what the CompSci Tetrad can do for the projects. I thought I'd pitch some of them to you guys and see what we think of each… I figured we'd do this alongside our current project of programming and automating the schedule that the light systems in the park near the school turn on and off at… specifically those in the area of it where students take their break. Right now the electricians are having to work extra hard to plug in and unplug all of the lights all the time."
As Tim opened up some links to the various project ideas, Mina said to June and Elijah with a smile, "Can you both get us another computer? The CompSci Tetrad isn't itself without its two main sets of hardware."
"Two… main sets of hardware… ?" said Elijah.
"We'll do it," said June as she pulled Elijah's arm.
Not knowing what was going on, Elijah followed June outside.
"June, where are we going?" said Elijah.
"Outside, to the parks," she said.
"You didn't seriously leave a second laptop out there, did you?"
As Elijah opened the door and they entered out into the school courtyard, she pulled him to the side of the door and pushed him against the wall.
"For someone who's a child prodigy, grown up on the streets, and supposedly has a demon whispering in his ear… you suck at reading the room," said June with a laugh. "Are you really a psychopath?"
"I do have psychosis…" said Elijah. "I developed it while my mom and I were living on the streets to help cope."
"Really?" said June, who pulled her arms away from him. "So the whole bit about that demon, Aita… was it made up?"
"Aita…" Shutting his eyes for a moment, Elijah said to her while trembling, "You wouldn't believe half the stuff I told you he's shown me. And I don't expect you to."
"You think he's real," said June.
Elijah nodded, and gulped.
"Tell me about him," said June.
"...all right," sighed Elijah.
As they sat together at a table in the park, Elijah said, "...the first time I saw him was at Finn's party. A memory of his was triggered when I was pushed into the pool. By the time it was over, his consciousness came to the surface with me."
"Did he take over your body?" said June. "Like dissociative identity disorder? I know a little about that mainly due to its prominence in the media."
"It's less like dissociative identity disorder," said Elijah, "and more like two whole consciousnesses, one human and one otherworldly, are fighting with each other rather than trying to keep each other safe, as would be the case if I had DID."
"Aita hates me, just like every other human," said Elijah. "He comes from a race of humanoid beings called the Isu that built humans in their image as a slave race. As they went extinct, over time they began to be seen as gods."
"What god is Aita?" said June.
"He's the Etruscan version of Hades or Pluto in Greco-Roman mythology."
"Right… Gods of the underworld…" said June, putting a hand to her chin. "What about other mythologies? Is the Christian god an Isu?"
"While I don't think the Judeo-Christian god is one, mainly due to several aspects of Christianity being derivative of other prior religions, I do know that several of the other mythologies were actually different Isu castes, despite the Greco-Roman caste– the Illuminat caste– being the largest one. One example would be the Aesir caste, or the Norse gods. The mythologies overlap in concepts."
June said to Elijah, "So what caused them to go extinct?"
"While they warred with humans and each other a lot, which reduced their numbers considerably… It was a solar flare that wiped them out completely. Their advancements in technology couldn't save them, but because humans were numerous, they lived on… and Aita's husband Juno managed to find a way to program his consciousness, memories, knowledge, and some physical traits to manifest at random in certain humans. That includes my hair color and heterochromic eyes, for example."
"And is the reason you're so much smarter than everyone else here… and much taller and in shape than the other high schoolers despite being my age… because his memories, knowledge, and traits are yours?"
Elijah blushed a little at this. Scratching his head, he said, "For the most part, yes. There's so much I'm not ready to share just because I know it'll sound crazy. All I'll say is that the Isu had triple-helix DNA… DNA capable of superhuman feats. Humans inherited some triple-helix DNA over time when breeding with the Isu, but as the hybrid bloodlines slowly became more and more human as the Isu went extinct, the amount of triple-helix DNA in the gene pool became diluted. Sages have a surplus of it."
June smiled, and looked out at the other children playing on a basketball court nearby. "It's weird… knowing a superhuman reincarnation of some god."
Elijah looked in shock at June as she responded, "I could tell you were different when I first met you at that awful birthday party. But I had no idea."
"...you actually believe me?"
"I'm not sure yet," said June, "but I've seen so many people and their ideas be dismissed as crazy in the media, only for it to turn out that said ideas were real later on."
"You're a free thinker then," said Elijah with a slight smile. "That's good."
"Most of what we're taught here in school is just imperialist propaganda anyway," said June.
Looking away from June for a minute, Elijah said, "So were we out here just to talk?"
"More than that," said June with a smile as she grabbed his hand.
Elijah's face turned bright red.
Looking behind him after hearing a distant noise, Elijah swore he could see another student looking over at them with a camera.
Looking back at June, he said, "Whatever we're out here for, can we do it over by that big tree over there?"
"Sure," said June.
As they sat next to each other underneath the massive tree in the middle of the park, Elijah looked up and saw an aura of himself standing on top of the highest branch of the tree, one that allowed him to view the entirety of the school.
He saw the aura leap and crash next to his body.
No haystack… Elijah thought. Good thing I decided to climb down that time at the last minute.
"I'll cut to the chase, Elijah," said June. "I like you. I want to date you… but… Hayden likes me, so it's probably not a good idea that we show affection to each other at school."
Looking at Elijah, she shut her eyes and shook her head for a moment. "Sorry… I'm getting ahead of myself. Do you–"
"What do you see in me?" said Elijah.
"What?" said June.
"I mean, everyone keeps telling me I'm hideous," he said. "My heterochromic eyes, and this mark on my neck… I live in poverty, and I'm mentally ill."
"You're also incredibly smart, strong, mysterious… and you are not hideous!" June said. "I find you attractive."
Elijah looked at June in surprise as she pointed at his chest.
"But what's most important is that you care. Or at least… it seems like you do."
Elijah looked away again.
"I want to care."
"Then care."
Looking back at June, he looked at her hand as it was touching his thigh, specifically her wrists beneath one of the various school armbands she wore.
"You're bleeding…" said Elijah. "Did you…"
Now June looked away, and took her hand off his thigh.
"Just there."
Her voice was trembling.
"I don't believe you," said Elijah.
"I said just there."
He grabbed her face with his hand. She gasped slightly.
"Now that I'm using my enhanced vision to look at you, and see through the various hallucinations… I can see bruises on your body and face… covered up with makeup."
Shocked, he let go of her.
Frowning, her eyes began to water.
"Who did this to you?" he said, his blood boiling.
Her makeup began to run.
"Was it Hayden?"
She shook her head.
"Then…" Elijah remembered something she asked him earlier in the school year.
"Do you really care about your parents?" said June as she stopped walking for a moment.
"Only the one of them that's been there for me. Why?"
June smiled, and looked away.
"What?"
"Nothing," said June, "forget I asked."
"Which one of your parents was it?" Elijah said. "Or was it a sibling?"
"Both of my parents," cried June. "Neither one of them wanted a child."
Furious, Elijah said, "If you need to stay at my place tonight…"
"That'll just make them angry. I need to escape them completely."
This sensation felt so strange to Elijah… Was he empathizing with her?
"I don't know what I can do to help then," said Elijah. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," June sniffled, and rubbed her eyes. "I had hoped you wouldn't find out. I thought I hid it well from the other students at least, but…"
Elijah hugged June. "All right… I'll go out with you. And I'll protect you from… from Hayden, at least."
Sobbing, June hugged Elijah back and cried on the shoulder of his T-shirt.
"I took this picture of them together in the park, Hayden," said Frances, the school slut and the student with the camera who was part of Hayden's gang.
Hayden looked at the picture on her phone.
Elijah and June were smiling while sitting together at the table in the park near the school.
Hayden gritted his teeth.
"This fucking brat is pissing me off in all sorts of ways today…" he muttered.
"Should we not have skipped detention with Frances and kicked the shit out of him, Hayden?" said Logan.
"No," said Hayden, "not yet."
"You sure?" said Logan. "Because letting him, June, the shuttle, and the emo bitch walk around having the time of their lives is going to make you look weak."
"I know!" said Hayden, banging his fist on the table he was sitting at in the school courtyard.
Sighing, he said, "I was admittedly impressed by his ability to fight so many children after nearly getting drowned in your parents' fucking swimming pool. There was something about his glare and the way he was speaking back then before we grabbed him… it seemed unhinged, uncanny, like he was possessed."
"Something about him seems different than the others we've bullied," said Hayden. "Call it a gut feeling that goes beyond the fact that he looks incredibly fit for a 10-year-old that barely even has time to work out given how much time he has his head buried in his studies, but I think he still knows how to fight… and well. He's just holding back for some reason."
"Why would he be holding back for any reason other than because he doesn't want to get in trouble with the school?" said Logan.
"No one cares about the school though…" said Frances.
Hayden's face lit up.
"He doesn't give a shit about school. Doing so wouldn't suit him," said Hayden. "He's doing so for his mother."
Standing up from his chair, Hayden said to Logan, "Call the others. Tell them to try and find the ghetto Elijah and his mother live in."
"Word is it's one of the worst ones in this district… if not the worst one…" said Logan, putting a hand to his chin. "Is it really worth getting the other gangs involved?"
"I'll handle business with them," said Hayden. "Just make sure that wherever Elijah's mother is at the time we attack her… that he knows it was us."
Elijah got home later.
"I'm back from school, mom!" he said. "How was work?"
"You're way cheerier than usual," said his mother, putting her hands on her hips.
"What?" said Elijah. "Did I do something wrong?"
"I heard you got detention for the first time," she said.
"Oh," he said. "Mother, I can explain–"
"Tell me what happened."
"Well…" said Elijah, scratching his head, "...a bully stole my lunch, and swapped it with a sandwich filled with feces. I threw it back at him… in the ziploc bag of course."
"For the most part, that tracks with what the school told me," said Tori. "You omitted the details about the bully in question being the leader of a dangerous gang though."
"You don't seriously believe that Hayden's gang of students is an actual gang, right mom?" said Elijah.
"Elijah, I told you to stay out of trouble!" she yelled.
"But that'd mean I'd have to take their abuse–"
Rubbing her eyes with her hands and pacing around, Tori then turned to Elijah and shouted, "That's what we have to do to survive, Elijah! People who live in poverty like us are treated as subhuman! I thought you'd learned this when we were living on the streets!"
Looking at his mother as she sighed, and crashed on the couch, Elijah said, "Okay, mom… I'm sorry. I've been trying to avoid confrontations with him. We seem to have reached some sort of understanding, though. He said he'll leave me alone… for now at least."
Sitting next to his mother, Elijah said, "Has work been stressing you out more than usual lately?"
"There's a recession happening," Tori said. "Despite that peak season's coming up in the factory I'm working in, the higher-ups in the company are concerned about the amount of product coming in for manufacturing versus the amount of people to manufacture it…"
Elijah looked at Tori as she said, "They're overstaffed, and they're cracking down on those who don't make rate consistently. My manager hates me because of how exhausted I am all the time, despite that I'm one of the better performers… I'm afraid I'll be one of the workers that's laid off."
"Laid off?" said Elijah. Looking around, he said, "Well will we be able to afford to keep living here still? Don't you work your other job as a bartender during the evenings?"
"I do," said Tori, "but that job relies on tips, and lately customers have only been getting more ornery. The recession's likely to make it all worse. And my bartender job doesn't have the health benefits that would pay for your medications and your therapist in case this miracle treatment program with Abstergo falls through."
Frowning at Elijah, she said, "Have you been making progress with Richmond?"
"A little so far…" said Elijah, looking away.
"You're lying," said Tori. "Richmond says he can tell you don't like him."
"He what?" said Elijah, looking back at Tori in shock.
"I know you're likely going to have to deal with your illness for the rest of your life, Elijah," said Tori, "but there's only so much I can do to help you treat it. And once I'm gone, whether it's of old age, or an accident at work…"
"I know," said Elijah, who looked at the floor, saddened by the implications of this. "I'm on my own."
"That's why you have to get treatment, get through school, get your high school diploma," said Tori. "Education's a blessing that not a lot of children have access to… I…"
She then sighed. "I wish I had access to it."
Elijah sat up as Tori said to him, "I just want you to have a better life than I did."
Elijah said to her, "You never talked about your life before me, mom."
"That's because I don't like to talk about it."
"Can we talk about it now?"
Sitting up, Tori smiled at Elijah, and rubbed his curly black hair that resembled her blonde curls. "Sure."
Tori said to Elijah, "My family lived in a small town in Indiana, one that consisted mostly of churches and farms."
"Most of what I did was just what my parents told me to do… run errands, help around the house, irrigate the crops, raise the livestock… They believed in God a lot, and went to church regularly."
"Something happened to me in my town's church at some point when I wasn't much older than you are… I don't want to get into it too much, because it still scares me to talk about it, but…"
Elijah looked at Tori as she said to him, "At some point in my life I realized that if I didn't flee that town, I'd be stuck there forever, doing the same damned things, falling victim to the same horrors."
"I was young then, and had no idea what I was doing, but I fled. At some point I was able to get my bearings; I managed to hitch a ride and make it to New York. Then I tried to get a college degree, using financial aid to pay for my schooling and dormitory while unaware of how much debt I'd be in later, all despite working my first real job on the side."
Elijah said, "You didn't tell me you got a degree."
"I never finished it," she said. "I had a bit of a wild streak… started partying. Met a man named Desmond Miles at a particularly wild party."
"That's my father's name?" said Elijah in surprise.
Nodding, Tori smiled as she continued. "After talking, I found out that we had similar pasts, pasts we ran away from. I liked him. So we made love that night in a spot at the party where no one could see us."
"I found out I was pregnant not long after," said Tori. "I tried to find Desmond, but he was nowhere to be found. Horrified at the thought of having to raise a baby by myself and losing my chance at getting my degree, I tried to find a way to contact my parents. I was desperate. But they didn't want anything to do with me. Employers didn't want anything to do with me either upon seeing I was a soon-to-be single mom."
"In the end, my horrors didn't matter though," Tori said as she smiled at Elijah. "I didn't need Desmond. I didn't need my family or my hometown. I didn't need my degree. I didn't need the ton of money I thought I needed to be happy, even though I needed a little to survive. I just needed you, my baby boy… Elijah."
Elijah's eyes began to water.
"I'm so sorry, mom…"
"Oh, don't be sorry, Elijah," said Tori.
"I knew you were going through a lot to try and raise me…" he said, "but I didn't think you'd been unhappy your whole life!"
"No, sweetheart, it's the opposite!" said Tori. "Raising you has been the part of my life that's made me happy."
Elijah looked at Tori and smiled.
Wiping his eyes and nose on his sleeve, Elijah said to Tori, "All- all right. I promise I'll be good."
"Good," said Tori. "Speaking of which, you were a lot happier when you got here. Was there something you were going to say?"
"I–" Elijah looked at the ceiling, frowned, and said, "...honestly I don't remember now."
Tori smiled at him.
Elijah promised he'd be good to his mother and honor her demands to stay out of trouble.
Little did he know that was a promise he couldn't keep.